Near the end of his 2008 book Democracy as Problem Solving, Xavier de Souza Briggs reflects: Many ideas about making democracy work stop at asking the question: how might we improve the relationship between citizens and their government? That is an important question, but I have pursued a broader one: how might we improve the relationships… Read more » Read more

I spend most of my time thinking about how to run companies well. Of course a fair amount of that time is spent absorbed in the particular challenges of running this firm or that firm, and of navigating the specific terrain that a given client or venture has encountered. But an awful lot of time… Read more » Read more

Jeremy Heimans, cofounder and CEO of Purpose, a social business that builds movements, and Henry Timms, executive director of the 92nd Street Y and founder of #GivingTuesday, a global philanthropic movement, have done us all a service with Understanding “New Power”, their Harvard Business Review piece published this week. Their article delineates the two constructs… Read more » Read more

Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams look at a great deal of data on the life contexts and choices of executives, and their Harvard Business Review piece suggests three truths that emerge from amidst great individual variety: Life Happens Knowing that, focus on things that matter before they’re gone and build in the capacity to respond… Read more » Read more

About halfway through her new book, Crazy is a Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags, Linda Rottenberg – a friend and one of the entrepreneurs I admire most – writes about the power of looking backwards. One consistent theme of entrepreneurs who deftly navigate chaos is they don’t just look forward; they also… Read more » Read more